After appearing on Broadway in Fiorello! from 1959 to 1961, Bob Holiday kept busy. He appeared in Wildcat which starred Mamie Van Doren, and went on to win national acclaim as Sir Lancelot in the official touring company of Camelot. In 1964, just before winning the role of a lifetime—Superman—Bob appeared in a touring company of Lady In The Dark.

Lady In The Dark is a musical drama about a woman, Liza Elliott (played by the beautiful and talented Jane Morgan) who is undergoing psychoanalysis to try to figure out just who is the right man for her. Bob Holiday played Randy Curtis, one of these men.

I did a tour in Lady In The Dark. It was great fun working with Jane. She sang beautifully as ever, and was very sweet.

During the tour, Bob struck up a friendship with another well-known name.

In the chorus was a pretty, blonde dancer. She was real kooky and a real dazzler. Her name was Goldie Hawn. We were friendly, and I remember her saying at the end of the show’s run, that she was going to try her luck in California. I was so happy for her when Laugh In hit big.

The original production of Lady In The Dark was the vehicle that brought Danny Kaye to fame. His performance of “Tchaikovsky,” in which he named 50 Russian composers in under a minute, charmed the nation. And, in a terrific twist of history, when Lady In The Dark premiered on Broadway, it was staged at the Alvin Theatre, the very same theatre that staged "It's A Bird It's A Plane It's Superman©" 25 years later.

Personal Note: The grainy photo above of Bob and Jane Morgan was taken to publicize the opening of Lady In The Dark at the Westbury Music Fair. My mother volunteered at the Westbury Music Fair whenever we were in New York. She would always come home with exciting tales of the stars she’d met. I often wonder whether she met the not-yet-famous, pre-Superman Bob Holiday on one of our many trips back East.

Photos courtesy the Estate of Bob Holiday
and personal collection of webmaster
Text ©2022 Toni Collins and
Superman on Broadway, ©2003 Bob Holiday and Chuck Harter, page 11
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